At Night I Hear It Move
by blacksouledbutterfly
Summary: Rachel and Puck decide when their daughter turns four it's time to buy a house. But once they move in the quickly realize that something about their new home is very, very wrong.


It's time to move out of Manhattan. Rachel had moved there directly out of high school and Puck had moved there two years later. They reconnected and started to date a couple of months after that. A year later they were married. Two years after that Rachel gave birth to their daughter, Abby. But Abby is four years-old now and they've decided that it's time to leave the city. It's been good to them but they decided that when their daughter is that little they should raise her in a more rural place, a place that is much cleaner, there she has more space to run around and play.

That's why on a clear spring day they leave Abby with her Uncle Kurt and find themselves around Wallkill, New York looking at houses. It's a nice, quiet place to raise a child. The houses are spread apart and they have decent sized backyards and that's the best place to raise a child- in a place where they have space to run around and fresh air. It's not Ohio- they never wanted to go back there- but it's better for their daughter to live in a place that's like their childhood home than the city. Little kids need more space than Manhattan allows. When she gets older they might move back. But for now? Manhattan is a bad choice.

They're looking at a house that's really nice but costs a little more money than they would actually like to spend they notice the man across the street hanging up a sign in front of his house- For Sale by Owner. The outside of it looks like it might need a little bit of repair, some fresh paint or something of the like but she suggests they look at it anyway. It's an older house but everything inside seems nice enough. It's a bit odd to them that the man has only been living there for a year but wants to sell already but he just gives them a smile and says he got a new job so that's why he's moving. And the price he's asking for the house is more than fair. Besides, the backyard is big so they decide to buy the house.

When they first move in everything seems fine. They repaint the rooms in colors that suit them better; they put up blinds and curtains. Abby spends most of the day running around the backyard. She does strange things though, quirky things. She waves to the attic door sometimes like she's saying goodbye though no one is ever up there. But she's four so they chalk it up to her active imagination. And that's the same thing they do when she starts to talk to them about her imaginary friend, Becca. Becca who she talks to and sits in her room singing songs to. Puck finds it weird but Rachel had her own imaginary friend at that age.

Everything is going perfectly at first. But soon Rachel notices a change in Abby. Puck will be at work and Abby will sit in her room singing but she doesn't sound as happy as she used to. She sounds sad, like maybe she wants to cry. So one day when they're sitting downstairs in the kitchen eating lunch Rachel asks her why she's so sad. And Abby looks up at her with very clear brown eyes and says, "Becca's sad. She doesn't like you, Mommy."

Why her daughter's imaginary friend wouldn't like her is a mystery to Rachel but within a couple of days Abby goes back to normal. She starts smiling more and laughing again so Rachel lets it go. Children have such active imaginations that she doesn't see anything that bizarre about the whole things. Until a couple of weeks later when Abby comes running into her room about ready to cry and throws her arms around Rachel's legs, cries against her skirt and whimpers, "Mommy, Becca's Mommy hurt her."

She has no idea where her daughter would get an idea like that, hear about a mother hurting her child. They're careful to keep dark things out of their daughter's mind and so it worries them, worries them so much that they have her sleep in their room that night and the next day Rachel takes Abby to see a doctor.

Abby babbles to the doctor about Becca, tells him all about the songs they sing. She seems so happy that Rachel sits there stunned. And the doctor simply tells her that children come up with strange stories sometimes but she's intelligent and healthy and that there's no reason for her to be concerned. It's a relief though Abby's stories still make her feel tense. Still, the doctor tells her not to worry so that day she and Puck bring Abby to the park. And for a while the whole day seems so normal that they're completely at ease. They don't see any reason to worry about their daughter at all. She hasn't seemed that vibrant since they first moved from the city.

Everything seems so normal until they get home. Rachel walks inside holding Abby, Puck behind her and when they walk into the living room all of the pictures are on the floor in the center of the room, the furniture overturned. The pictures were up too high for Abby to have taken them down to begin with and the furniture was fine when they left. Its then that they know something strange is happening in their home. Or at least Rachel does. Puck refuses to believe anything is off. He doesn't believe in the paranormal. And Rachel didn't used to but she's starting to.

That night Puck is in the bathroom brushing his teeth when Abby comes in and tugs on his t-shirt. He spits out the toothpaste and puts the brush back where it belongs before crouching down and smoothing her dark hair back from her face, asking her what's wrong. Abby tells him with wide, fear-filled eyes that there's a white face in her bedroom window. Puck thinks it's just her imagination but he decides to check it out to make her feel safe. But when he goes into her bedroom he can clearly see a face in the window- but they're on the second floor.

He turns on the light and goes over, throws open the window but there's nothing there. He's still not completely convinced in the paranormal but he knows something is going on with their daughter. She's even more depressed than ever before and she refuses to sleep in her room. It's not until the next day when his mother is visiting- his sister went to college nearby and so she had moved out there a couple of years before- that their concern grows. His mother is giving Abby a bath and she looks up at her grandmother and says, "Becca told me it's okay to jump out the window. She says she'll catch me."

Michelle Puckerman's blood runs cold when she realizes that Abby is completely serious. This little girl truly believes that someone told her it's alight to go out the window. So Michelle takes her granddaughter out of the bathtub, wraps her in a towel and holds her close. She runs her hand over the little girl's wet hair and begs her not to go out the window. If she goes out the window she'll die.

Rachel and Puck decide to let Michelle take Abby to stay with her that weekend. Things seem lighter during that weekend. Santana and Brittany are in the city for a couple of weeks on vacation so the two of them and Kurt and Blaine come to the house. Santana, Blaine and Puck stay in the backyard and they repaint Abby's furniture while Rachel, Brittany and Kurt paint her bedroom walls. Brittany puts a unicorn on the girl's wall; Kurt paints Disney characters. They set the room up hoping that the happier look in the house will make her happier. Maybe this talk of Becca will stop.

But the first time Abby is in that room alone everything gets destroyed. Rachel crouches down in front of her daughter in the mess of the room, the bed overturned, things thrown about and puts her hands on her daughter's arms. She asks her why she did that, why she would ruin everything. But Abby just insists she didn't do it. Becca did. Becca doesn't like the changes.

Then it goes quiet for another couple of weeks. The room gets put back in order. There is no more talking about Becca. Abby is upstairs playing in her room and Rachel comes to the bottom of the stairs and calls up to her daughter to come downstairs for lunch. Abby runs over to the stairs, stops at the top, waves to her mother. And when Rachel lifts her hand to wave in return the scariest thing thus far happens.

Abby hits the floor like she's been pushed. Her little hands grip the top step and she screams but she gets dragged backwards. There's no one upstairs but she gets dragged off, screaming. Rachel screams her daughter's name and runs up the stairs but the bathroom door slams with Abby behind it before Rachel can get there.

Rachel runs over to the door and tries to open it but its locked. She screams and bangs on the door and tries to get it open so she can get to her daughter but it stays shut. Then, all at once, it swings open and is sitting crouched in the shower crying, the water running. There are scratch marks on the little girl's legs like someone scratched at her.

That's when Rachel decides that they need to find out what's going on in their house. They send Abby to Michelle's house for the night and they bring in a psychic. She sits in Abby's room and starts singing the same nursery rhymes that Abby always sings. And for a little while that's all she does. She just sits there and sings the songs. And then her head snaps up and she looks at Rachel and Puck and tells them that he doesn't want them there. Rachel insists that their daughter keeps talking about a little girl but the psychic just smiles in a less than pleased way, a sad way and says that no, it's a he. And he doesn't want them there.

Rachel scoffs it off at first. They decide to try to purify the house. They burn sage and they tell whatever's there that it has to get out. It has to leave. They've nailed all of their windows shut so that Abby can't try to jump out of the windows but it's done. It has to be done. They tell whatever's there that it's their house and that they're not leaving. It's not wanted there and it has to go.

For a couple of nights it's quiet. Rachel just sits there and waits for Abby to come talk to her about Becca but it doesn't happen. Instead Rachel ends up calling her father and talking to him about what's been going on. He's instantly concerned and tells her that they have to get out of the house. He isn't sure it's haunted but he knows something's wrong. And that if they don't get out something bad will happen. But Rachel insists that it's been quiet so far so he should worry.

Abby is asleep in her bed and Puck is downstairs watching television. He gets the strange feeling like he's being watched when he knows he isn't. He's not being watched at all. He chalks it up to paranoia, gets up and goes to turn off the television before blowing out the candles that Rachel lit earlier. His back is to the table where the candles are lit and suddenly they go flying across the room, hit the wall, wax splattering everywhere.

He's upstairs as quickly as he can to tell Rachel what's going on. She's just hanging up with her father when Puck starts to tell her what's happened. But he only gets halfway through the story when everything on top of Rachel's dresser goes flying and hits the wall.

The petite brunette stands there, clenches her fists and stomps her foot. "We're not leaving," she tells whatever's there. "So stop what you're doing."

For the next couple of weeks whatever happens is small, stupid. Pictures get moved, things go missing. They wake up with strange scratches and bruises. But things seem to be quieting down enough where they don't worry too much. They thing that maybe whatever it is that's there that wants them out is giving up. Things start to feel like they're going to be alright. But they're wrong. They're horribly wrong and they find that out soon enough.

It starts as a very quiet night. Abby goes to sleep without any trouble and Rachel and Puck lay in bed watching television. They both fall asleep with the dim glow still illuminating the room. But sometimes during the night Puck gets restless. He tosses and turns and he feels like he's burning up and Rachel tries to get comfortable next to him but it doesn't work so well with him tossing and turning. But then, all of a sudden, she feels Puck sit up next to her.

She opens her eyes in the dim light to look up at him but when he looks back down at her it's not her husband. It's his body but he's not there and she knows it. She opens her mouth to say something to him but the words never come out. His hands go to her neck and he squeezes. He squeezes so tight she can barely breathe and her lungs start to burn for air. She tries to say his name but nothing comes out so she starts lashing out at him. She kicks and she scratches. Her nails make contact with his bare chest and his skin splits open with the force behind it.

It stuns him long enough that she can bunch her legs up close to her chest and kick at him, push him away from her. She practically falls out of the bed with the effort to get away. But she knows it's not her husband. He has never raised a hand to her before. He never would. Whatever is in their house is in their husband. She rolls over onto her stomach and starts to crawl away, gets to the door before Puck's hand closes around her ankle and drags her backwards. She screams, or she tries to but almost no sound comes out.

His hand grips her hair tightly and he yanks her head back, lifts her up off of the floor that way. She's sure some of her hair gets ripped out but she's so scared that she can't even feel the pain. "Noah, stop," she pleads. "Noah, you have to fight this." But if her husband is still inside of his body he doesn't hear her because he just lifts her up and throws her against the far wall.

Her body hits the wall hard and she cries out when her bottom lip hits her tooth and splits open. She starts to slide to the floor and grabs at whatever she can to stop herself but all she manages to do is grab the lamp cord. It goes tumbling to the floor with her and when she turns around Puck is advancing on her again. He hands go for her throat again and she does the only thing she can do- she grabs the lamp in her hands and smashes it against his head. The porcelain shatters and his skin splits open but he's stunned long enough for her adrenaline to kick in and for her to run out of the room.

She runs down the hall, knowing he won't be stunned for very long. She heads for the stairs, knowing that whatever it is happens to be after her. Abby is safe for now and if she stays around she's going to die. She's halfway down the stairs when she looks over her shoulders. Puck is standing at the top of the stairs and she tries to move faster but she stumbles, falls down the rest of the stairs. Her ankle starts to throb from the way she landed on it. But she doesn't let it stop her. She crawls to the door with Puck coming down the stairs.

She flings the front door open, pulls herself up and runs down the front steps into the cool autumn air, runs down the walk and out onto the street. She turns around to see if her husband is still following her but he's just standing there in the doorway. For a few moments he just seems frozen but then he reaches up and touches the side of his head, flinches when it hurts, pulls his fingers away and sees them covered in blood. And then confusion spreads across his face and he looks up at her, eyebrows furrowed. "Baby….?"

Rachel just starts to sob. She sobs and she makes her way back over to him, wraps her arms around his waist and then her legs give out beneath her and he follows her down onto the porch. She cries into his chest, her arms tight around him. He doesn't seem to know what he's done, or more accurately what it has done in his body and she's glad for that at the moment. It would kill him to think about how he hurt her. Because she knows her husband isn't like that. He's a good man. He would never hurt her intentionally. Never in a million years.

She cries and cries and cries and she lifts her head up, unwraps her arms from around him, takes his face in her hands and kisses him like her life depends on it. "Oh, God, Noah," she whispers against his mouth. "It's really you."

"Yeah," he whispers back numbly. "Yeah, it's me, babe." Lifting up a hand he runs his thumb over her bottom lip, his face a mask of confusion, his eyes haunted. "Baby, what did I do…?"

"It wasn't you," she insists. "It wasn't you, Noah." She wraps her arms around his neck, hugs him tightly for a moment before releasing him and standing up. She walks clumsily into her house, collapses to her knees in the foyer. "You win," she calls out to whatever's there. "You win. The house is yours. Just leave us alone. Just leave us alone! We'll leave. Just…leave us alone."

The next day they pack up whatever they can immediately and they put Abby in the car, drive over to his mother's house. Michelle wraps each of them up in a hug, eyes filled with tears and thanks God over and over again that they're okay. That night, Abby sleeps soundly and Rachel and Puck sleep wrapped up in each other, almost afraid that the thing followed them but it's finally peaceful. It's like a weight has been lifted off of their shoulders.

They never go back to that house. They hire movers to get the rest of the stuff out of the house and they put it in storage until they can sell the house and buy a new one.

They hear somewhere down the line that the people who bought the house from them left in under a year. But the house still sits there, empty and abandoned. But on those rare days they drive by it they swear they can still feel something watching, waiting, warning them that whoever else shows up there will receive the same treatment as they did. And if they're not lucky they won't get off as easy.


End file.
